Levi Willard Richards (1845-1914)
}} Biography Childhood When their only child, Levi Willard Richards, was born in 1845 at Nauvoo, the parents naturally felt a special love for him. Therefore, it was a severe test to them when in 1848 President Brigham Young (1801-1877) called them both to serve a mission to Great Britain, with the suggestion that they send their only child to Utah. President Young promised them that their child would live if taken to the Salt Lake Valley in their absence, adding that he could not make that promise if they took him with them to England. In a difficult test of their prayers and faith, Levi and Sarah Richards trusted in the Lord and in his prophet and left their three-year-old son Levi W. in the care of his aunt Rhoda Richards (1784-1879) Smith. During that time Aunt Rhoda kept their memory alive for the boy by frequently showing him the pictures of his parents, reading their letters to him, and talking to him of them. Levi W. Richards (1845–1914) was finally reunited with his faithful parents after their five-year mission. Teen Years While in his teens he received appointment from the Territory of Utah to the West Point Military Academy, but because of reluctance on the part of his parents to consent to another long separation from him, he declined the assignment. 1866 Mission to England Ordained an Elder at the age of eighteen, he was, three years later, called to labor in the mission field in England, over which mission his cousin, Apostle Franklin Dewey Richards (1821-1899), was then presiding. His journey thither, occupying three months, was fraught with many of the dangers and hardships common to those times. Levi was first appointed to Sheffield. He had labored as a missionary but a few weeks when a malignant attack of small-pox nearly cost him his life. Through the mercies of the Lord, and the loving care of Sister Mary Colbert, with her son John and other faithful friends, he was given back health and strength for the completion of his mission, which lasted about three years. He presided for a time over the Monmouthshire conference in the neighborhood of his mother's birthplace, where he acquired a deep-rooted interest for the Welsh people. Elder Caleb Parry, writing to President Horace S. Eldredge of the missionary labors of Elder Richards, said: "I am here in Monmouthshire alone, Bro. Levi W. Richards, as you are aware, having left me. I feel rather lonesome now that he is gone, as he is a young man I greatly esteem and who is greatly beloved by all the saints in this conference without one exception that I know of. I know myself that he has lived a life of purity that is seldom equalled. He leaves this country with the blessings of all the saints that are acquainted with him." Released in the autumn of 1870, Levi returned to Utah. LDS Church Activities Among the Church activities, to which the time, talents and life of Levi W. Richards were freely given with unswerving devotion, may be counted the Deseret Sunday School Union Board, of which he held the secretaryship for many years and was a faithful member from the time of its organization until his death. He was clerk of the Fourteenth Ward for a short time and of the Twentieth Ward for more than thirty years, president of the Elders quorum in the Twentieth Ward for a long period of time, counselor to the president of the High Priests quorum in the Ensign Stake of Zion from the time of the organization of that Stake, in 1904, until a few months before his death, when he was ordained a Patriarch. As a worker in the Endowment House and afterwards in the Salt Lake Temple he gave faithful and efficient service for more than twenty-five years and until disabled by the sickness which terminated in his death. He also remained devoted to the Church throughout his life, serving as secretary of the Deseret Sunday School General Board from its organization until his death, and as a temple ordinance worker, ward clerk, president of stake priesthood quorums, and patriarch. Marriage & Family 1st Marriage: Louisa Greene In 1873 (June 16th) Levi Willard Richards married Louisa Lula Greene, a daughter of Patriarch Evan M. Greene and Susan Kent. The young woman was then editor of the "Woman's Exponent." Seven children were born of this union, three daughters and four sons. Their names follow in order of birth: Mary, Mabel, Lee, Willard, Evan, Heber and Sarah, the mother's maiden name being attached to that of each of the children. The daughters all died in early childhood. The four boys are all living, all married and raising families of their own. About the time of Levi's marriage his parents moved from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Ward, and two years later the son with his wife and baby girl followed, becoming identified at once with the people and interests of the Twentieth Ward, Salt Lake City, where they continued to reside during the remainder of his mortal life. In 1873, Levi W. married Louisa Lulu Greene (1849–1944). Louisa, who at the age of fourteen had been composing poetry and dramatic dialogues, was an accomplished writer whose poetry was printed in various Church publications and in the Church hymn book. When Louisa was twenty-two, President Brigham Young called her to become the first editor of the Woman’s Exponent in 1872, which was one of the first magazines published by and for women west of the Mississippi. The motto on the masthead of the publication was “The Rights of The Women of Zion, and the Rights of the Women of All Nations.” She served as editor for five years, but asked to be released after two of her children were born. 2nd Marriage: Persis Young On the 16th of June, 1884, eleven years to the day from the time of his first marriage, Levi W. Richards married as a plural wife Persis Louisa Young, daughter of Bishop Franklin W. Young and Nancy Leonora Greene, a niece on the mother's side of his first wife. Persis became the mother of one child only, a son named Franklin Young, who died in infancy. References * Joseph Richards 1762 Immigrant Ancestors * Dr. Levi Richards - Wikipedia * Jan 1980 Ensign: They Served - Richards Legacy in the Church * Levi w Richards - FindAGrave